Martha Allan was born in Galston on the 9th of January 1781 and baptised on the 20th of January 1782. She was the illegitimate child of George Allan and Anne Parker.

Martha's entry in the Galston OPR reads precisely thus:

'Allan - Martha Natural Daughter to George Allan and Anne Parker both in Galston born 9th Jan^ry 1781 Baptised Sabbath 20 Jan 1782'

The suspicion naturally arises that the year of her birth is supposed to read 1782, but the other 2's written in the same hand are distinctive, and quite unlike the 1 entered here. Notice also that in the other entries of that period, the year of baptism was only repeated where it was different from the year of birth. It may be that owing to the circumstances of Martha's birth, the event was concealed for over a year.

A certain level of confusion appears to have arisen on the IGI. Some of the entries give her parents (correctly) as George Allan and Anne Parker. However, others give them as George Allan and his wife Mary Lockhart, and even in some cases state that Martha had a twin sister named Anne Parker Allan. Whatever the source of this information (or more likely misinformation), it certainly did not come from an accurate reading of the Galston OPR.

At the time of the 1841 census, Martha, age entered as sixty, was living in Pye Lane, Galston, with her husband Abram Yeudall and their daughters Isabella and Janet, and son Thomas. However, it is evident that by the time of the 1851 census she was dead, since Abram on that occasion was entered as a 'widower'.